April 8 - Driving to East end of Grand Cayman

Apparently street signs, signs for attractions, and any sign that might tell you what towns or locations are coming up are seen as unnecessary in Grand Cayman.  Forgot about signs that tell you how far some town or location is from where you are.  Nothing like not being sure what street or road one is on. Combine all this with less than detailed maps and driving on opposite side of the road, and a motoring adventure is guaranteed.  We headed out toward the East end of Island about 9:30 am and the start almost was not a good one.  Up next - Obama gives tour of blow hole and Disney cruise guests are stupid.

April 8 - The rental car

So we decided to rent a minivan from a place across the street trom the hotel.  Seemed OK and it was.  Thing is, car standards are about 15+ years behind the US when it comes to safety and some for creature comforts as well. We wound up with a Suzuki APV that seems to run fine and the A/C works fine and stops when one applies the brakes.  On the negative, no air bags and I am guessing no ABS, stability control, etc.  One can shift the car out of park without applying the brakes.  Suzuki could not sell three of these in the states even if it met standards.  Ok for here for a couple of days but even that worries us.  If we get hit, it will probably explode into a million pieces.  Oh, the back sill is so rusted i have to put the hatch seal in place everytime i open the hatch.  Side doors open like a car door instead of sliding as on any van built after 1990 in US.  Not exactly a pinbacle of styling as well.  Here is a couple of photos of this beauty.  Sounds like a 3 cylinder, 50 hp engine in it too.  Wish us luck.  

April 7 wrap up

Came back from SRC and made dinner in our room and then back for some pool and beach time.   Finally, we all watched the sunset at the beach and hung out with some new friends from New York.  A really good day.  Tomorrow - renting a car to see more of the island and hopefully not getting killed driving on left side of road.  Hate these wierd driving customs in these British colonies.  

Tuesday, April 7 - Part 2 Stingray City!!!

Well, after our near death march (if you listened to the boys tell it) to the slums of George Town, we regrouped and reloaded and got picked up for our trip out to Stringray City.  It has to be the most tourist must see place on Grand Cayman but even the locals like to go, so we paid the $40 each and got on the boat.  The outfit is a small outfit with the owners and a couple of mates running small trips to the sandbar just inside the breakers at the north end of the bay.  We rode about 30 minutes out to a reef near Sting Ray City and snorkeled for about 30 minutes.  A little rough and so so amounts of fish but the water was so clear and turquoise that it was worth it.  Here are a few photos from there.

We all got back in the boat for a few minute ride over to SRC.  Lots of other boats there but it was pretty amazing.  It is a large flat sandbar where perhaps a hundred or more large stingrays travel around being hand fed by the tourists.   We also all got to hold and pet the stingrays for half an hour.  Guides even picked them up to kiss or set on one's head.  The boys had a blast.  Kate was a little nervous but fed one and was Ok when she was held by us.  Here are some photos.

No way this would be OK in the states.  We did whatever we wanted while there. Sting rays used to people.  

When we got back to the dock we rescued an iguana that someone had tied up and tossed in the water.  Ben and I helped cut him free.  Ben had made a friend. 

Trip to George Town

Tuesday, April 7.     Got up, ate breakfast and talked the boys into walking to Georgetown to where the cruise ships come in.   About a mile and a half in the sun down a busy road.  Wound up carrying Kate most of the way. Down where the shuttle boats drop off people was crazy. Lots of tourist stores and people trying to sell tours and cab rides.  We rested about 10 minutes in a shop and started heading back to grocery store we passed along the way.  Actually very nice.  Spent $60 or so on food stuff for room and got a $20 taxi back to hotel.  We ate lunch at hotel poolside restaurant and got ready for our day's big adventure.....Stingray City.  

Deep sea fishing

I

Got on the boat at 1pm.  About a 30-45 minute ride out to open waters looking mostly for mahi-mahi.  No luck as ee went up and down east and north end for 2+ hours and then another area for a while in decent sized swells.  We were all getting pretty beat by then and Kate got seasick and was crying.  Got one barracuda on way in and Jack reeled it in.  Ok day but not catching any keeper fish sort of a bummer.  Got frozen yogurt afterwards to ease the pain.  Fishing can be that way.  Watched b-ball final to end the night.  Some photos.

Some serious teeth!!

Monday morning - Snorkeling Wreck of the Gamma

Got up and ate breakfast at the hotel, packed up, had a few false starts out the door but eventually made the 15 minute walk south to the Wreck of the Gamma.  It is a mostly submerged shipwreck about 20 yards from shore.  Lots of small colorful fish and a few bigger ones around the Wreck.  Kate did a great job snorkeling around the wreck.  Spent about 90 minutes there and walked back to hotel to get ready for afternoon of deep sea fishing.  Sorry, no photos from morning.  Forgot to mention:   Go Wisconsin!!!   Awesome win over Kentucky.  Sam and Don watched it at hotel at Dulles Saturday night.